Throwing Stones
All my reporting life, I have thrown small pebbles into a very large pond, and have no way of knowing whether any pebble caused the slightest ripple. I don't need to worry about that. My responsibility was the effort. I belong to a global fellowship, men and women, concerned with the welfare of the planet and its least protected inhabitants. - Martha Gellhorn
Butterfly Effect: The idea that if a butterfly chances to flap his wings in Beijing in March, then, by August, hurricane patterns in the Atlantic will be completely different.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. -Rev. 12:12
God’s time is not short. This is a very good thing for humanity but also much of a headache for the people who work for God. Ministers, by their very human nature, are incapable of seeing how their role actually fits into the great network of God’s Work on earth. The implications of our actions cannot be charted. What hurricane currently hitting the church started five hundred years ago by a turn of phrase in a sermon? In ten years what will be the results of our sitting down and talking with a friend for half an hour, even if that conversation is long forgotten? These are questions we are incapable of answering, The fact that we have no ability to know the results of our actions is a reason, amidst many, why we should attempt lives of unceasing prayer, so that our actions may be guided by God.
Overcoming the impracticality, from our eyes, of working on God’s time is one of the challenges that face ministers. It is fair to say that this aspect of ministry is highlighted in Pastoral Care work at Hospitals where the vast majority of the care is transient in nature. This comes to bear on the chaplain constantly.
The chaplain is entering into a hurricane completely unknown. The few details, such as prognosis, age, and sex, give no real clue as to what atmosphere one is entering. For instance two male patients in their late twenties and early thirties both have been knifed. One may be emotionally distraught and having to readdress his entire relationship with the world the other quite stoic, a mishap by all means but not one that is unexpected. The latter will be glad he still has his life the former wondering how can his life continue. The reactions are based on the patient’s prior history, on the many butterfly wings that have shaped their personality.
The reaction to the chaplain is also tempered by this hurricane. In actuality the patient is not reacting to the individual chaplain who is walking in the door but to the impression that prior “chaplains” have left on the patient’s psyche. When the patient trusts the chaplain it is because former chaplains have upheld integrity on which the patient can rely. When the chaplain is cursed out of the room it is obvious that the integrity of “chaplains” has been compromised for that person. Thus it is important for the chaplain to not take such reactions personally and also to remember that the chaplain is a steward of the integrity of all chaplains and how fragile a thing that is.
The greater struggle lies in letting go. The hospital chaplain’s contact with charges is brief. When the rare close pastor-pastoree relationship is formed it is a fleeting thing. If a chaplain does have the joy of being God’s instrument of nourishment in a closer atmosphere the chaplain shall not see the fruit that comes from this labour. Thus the chaplain’s attachment to the charges must be true and genuine, but one that is forever capable of letting go. This means that the chaplain cannot trespass on the work and give it terms of self-ownership but must always realize that the work is God’s. By this means the chaplain can be at one time fully present, in a theotokasal way, but also fully detached, in the sense of needing results and ownership.
What is it then that a chaplain may “own”? The chaplain “owns”, or better holds, the duty of throwing “small pebbles”. As Martha Gellhorn points out the responsibility is in the effort of this action, not in seeing the result of this action. A chaplain’s duty is to throw little pebbles of “love” at the patient and do so knowing that charting what ripples this pebble will cause is impossible. Learning to have pebbles that are truly of “love” and the accuracy to throw them correctly is part of the chaplain’s ongoing duty.
This aspect of ministry, the fact that ministry works on God’s time, is inherent in all forms of ministry. Even those ministry relationships that are long term are in the end of God not of our own making. The overall results of being an active instrument of God’s creation in this way are unfathomable. Minister’s are butterflies slowly moving their wings and by allowing that movement to be open to God they allow God’s Hurricanes to be the result of their flutters. Within the hospital all a chaplain can do is flutter, not seeing how the flutters affect the winds of the lives of the patients. It is our task to keep fluttering and allow God to place other ministers in the right place and the right time to flutter once again.
Butterfly Effect: The idea that if a butterfly chances to flap his wings in Beijing in March, then, by August, hurricane patterns in the Atlantic will be completely different.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. -Rev. 12:12
God’s time is not short. This is a very good thing for humanity but also much of a headache for the people who work for God. Ministers, by their very human nature, are incapable of seeing how their role actually fits into the great network of God’s Work on earth. The implications of our actions cannot be charted. What hurricane currently hitting the church started five hundred years ago by a turn of phrase in a sermon? In ten years what will be the results of our sitting down and talking with a friend for half an hour, even if that conversation is long forgotten? These are questions we are incapable of answering, The fact that we have no ability to know the results of our actions is a reason, amidst many, why we should attempt lives of unceasing prayer, so that our actions may be guided by God.
Overcoming the impracticality, from our eyes, of working on God’s time is one of the challenges that face ministers. It is fair to say that this aspect of ministry is highlighted in Pastoral Care work at Hospitals where the vast majority of the care is transient in nature. This comes to bear on the chaplain constantly.
The chaplain is entering into a hurricane completely unknown. The few details, such as prognosis, age, and sex, give no real clue as to what atmosphere one is entering. For instance two male patients in their late twenties and early thirties both have been knifed. One may be emotionally distraught and having to readdress his entire relationship with the world the other quite stoic, a mishap by all means but not one that is unexpected. The latter will be glad he still has his life the former wondering how can his life continue. The reactions are based on the patient’s prior history, on the many butterfly wings that have shaped their personality.
The reaction to the chaplain is also tempered by this hurricane. In actuality the patient is not reacting to the individual chaplain who is walking in the door but to the impression that prior “chaplains” have left on the patient’s psyche. When the patient trusts the chaplain it is because former chaplains have upheld integrity on which the patient can rely. When the chaplain is cursed out of the room it is obvious that the integrity of “chaplains” has been compromised for that person. Thus it is important for the chaplain to not take such reactions personally and also to remember that the chaplain is a steward of the integrity of all chaplains and how fragile a thing that is.
The greater struggle lies in letting go. The hospital chaplain’s contact with charges is brief. When the rare close pastor-pastoree relationship is formed it is a fleeting thing. If a chaplain does have the joy of being God’s instrument of nourishment in a closer atmosphere the chaplain shall not see the fruit that comes from this labour. Thus the chaplain’s attachment to the charges must be true and genuine, but one that is forever capable of letting go. This means that the chaplain cannot trespass on the work and give it terms of self-ownership but must always realize that the work is God’s. By this means the chaplain can be at one time fully present, in a theotokasal way, but also fully detached, in the sense of needing results and ownership.
What is it then that a chaplain may “own”? The chaplain “owns”, or better holds, the duty of throwing “small pebbles”. As Martha Gellhorn points out the responsibility is in the effort of this action, not in seeing the result of this action. A chaplain’s duty is to throw little pebbles of “love” at the patient and do so knowing that charting what ripples this pebble will cause is impossible. Learning to have pebbles that are truly of “love” and the accuracy to throw them correctly is part of the chaplain’s ongoing duty.
This aspect of ministry, the fact that ministry works on God’s time, is inherent in all forms of ministry. Even those ministry relationships that are long term are in the end of God not of our own making. The overall results of being an active instrument of God’s creation in this way are unfathomable. Minister’s are butterflies slowly moving their wings and by allowing that movement to be open to God they allow God’s Hurricanes to be the result of their flutters. Within the hospital all a chaplain can do is flutter, not seeing how the flutters affect the winds of the lives of the patients. It is our task to keep fluttering and allow God to place other ministers in the right place and the right time to flutter once again.
posted by koraps at 12:43 PM
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